New: Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications (2026). The revised policy applies to grants and Chair awards awarded on or after January 1, 2027.
Grants awarded before that date remain under the 2015 Open Access Policy.
Purpose of the policy
The Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications (2026) promotes immediate public access to agency-funded research. The policy aims to increase the dissemination and impact of Canadian research, while supporting academic freedom, research integrity, no-fee open access ("diamond") routes, and scholar-led Canadian publishing.
Policy requirements
To understand their obligations, grantees should consult the:
Overall, grantees must make their peer-reviewed article openly available immediately upon publication. Policy requirements include:
- Make a copy available on a trusted Canadian platform (institutional repository or another Canadian platform) even if the article is already openly available on the publisher’s site.
- Retain sufficient rights and apply an open licence (typically a Creative Commons licence) to the Version of Record (VoR) or Accepted Manuscript (AM).
- Inform the publisher of the author’s obligations and rights under the Policy when submitting an article for publication.
- Acknowledge Tri-Agency funding in their publication, quoting the funder name and funding reference number (e.g., FRN or application number) and any applicable persistent identifiers (PIDs).
The Tri-Agencies will monitor compliance. Failure to meet the obligations of the Policy may negatively affect future funding.
Additionally, institutions will be required to develop and publish an Institutional Strategy within two years of the Policy taking effect.
Policy scope
Applies to peer-reviewed articles resulting from Tri-Agency grants and chairs awarded on or after January 1, 2027.
Does not apply to student or postdoctoral awards and fellowships.